OFFICIALS CORRECT RENEWAL CARD LAG

State and county officials say they have resolved computer problems that delayed the sending of reminder notices to people to renew their vehicle registrations.

"Everything seems to be up to snuff today," said Joe Rosenhagen, director of revenue collection for Broward County.

In January, thousands of angry Broward County motorists complained that they had not received cards notifying them that their tags were about to expire, leaving them vulnerable to tickets from police officers.

Also, drivers who sent checks to the county to renew their registrations were not receiving their tags promptly.

Today, the system appears to be functioning, officials say.

"We are working the problems out daily," Rosenhagen said.

"It's much better now. It's 1,000 times better now than it was late last year."

Registration by mail payments are being processed in four to seven days, Rosenhagen said.

Reminder notices for August will be mailed on Thursday, he said. "We're not backlogged at all," said Tom Joyce, director of the State Division of Motor Vehicles.

Craig Crawford, general manager of Gordon-Darby Inc., a private firm that contracts with the state for emissions testing, agreed that the problem appears to have been corrected.

"We've seen a lot of the Julys out there already," he said.

People whose tags expire in July, however, might not have received their reminder cards until after May 5, because state officials wanted to see whether the Legislature would halt emissions testing in Broward County, Joyce said.

It was, and the state mailed the cards. Emissions testing is required only through June 29.

But officials stressed that no system is foolproof. Some people might be missed. Cards get lost in the mail. People change addresses. Glitches happen.

Raye Moskowitz, of Fort Lauderdale, was one of the people who did not receive a recent reminder notice and was ticketed.

"It cost me an extra $30 because they never sent the thing out on time," said her husband, Murray.

Despite the improvements at the state level, Broward County officials say that in September or October, they will take over production of the reminder cards.

"We're going to do it ourselves," Broward County Finance Director Phil Allen said.

By scanning information on the cards, county workers will be freed from typing mounds of information into the computer, he said.

Instead, those workers will be dispatched to county tag offices to reduce long lines, Allen said.

Motorists who have submitted their renewal forms but have not received their tags may call the Broward County Revenue Collection Division at 954-765-4697.

Megan O'Matz can be reached at momatz@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4518.